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Lazy Pea!
slacking in the hammock - what... is this supposed to be a holiday?? Stepping off the plane in Cairns it was clear we were in the tropics it was scorching and very humid. We checked into our deluxe room at our hostel and I made myself comfortable on the hammock!! Not before long though Steve was dragging me off to go and investigate our transport options to Cape Tribulation. Cairns was a nice enough town, we enjoyed lounging by the lagoon (no swimming in the sea due to big ass crocs!) and bought lots of fresh fruit and veg from Rusty's market. On the Monday we picked up our hire car and drove out to the Atherton Tablelands where we saw lots of waterfalls and went on a few walks, but luckily not many ferns were in sight! We went platypus spotting but unfortunately spotted none! We also went on a night canoe in the hope of spotting the tree kangaroo; we saw possums, fruit bats and two baby huntsman spiders (in my canoe..arrgghhh) but no tree kangaroos. Driving back through the forest I spotted a Cassowary lurking in the bushes, you may be wondering what a Cassowary is.......it looks like a pre-historic emu and runs like a veloceraptor when chasing your car!! On
Millaa Millaa Waterfalls
Millaa Millaa in the Atherton Tablelands our way to Port Douglas we visited Granite Gorge where we saw some rock wallabies and clambered over huge granite boulders to a water hole at the bottom.....neither of us got in the water though as we were still a little sceptical of croc's creeping up on us. Just before we crossed over the Daintree river to Cape Tribulation we went on a river cruise and there we saw plenty of crocodiles, one very large one and a few smaller but all looked deadly!
Travelling along the road to our campsite on the Cape Steve spotted the ice cream factory and of course we had to stop, we tried Wattle Seed flavour which tasted just like coffee. Setting ourselves up it became obvious we had found paradise; our tent was right beside the beach surrounded by coconut palms and soft sand. Steve turned into Ray Mears straight away getting his pen knife out to cut through the coconut shell and sample the juice. The next day we relaxed on the beach and worked on our tan but again we couldn't really swim in the sea due to jelly fish as well as crocodiles. We booked a trip to go
out on the Great Barrier Reef so the following morning we were up early and off to board the Rum Runner boat for the day. It took about an hour to get out to the first reef, Undine, where we put our snorkelling gear on and went investigating. The coral was amazing it was all different shapes and sizes and came in a range of colours, at some points the sea was so shallow that it was hard to avoid touching it. There were so many fish swimming around that you didn't know which way to look it was like a scene from 'Finding Nemo'. Before we knew it, it was time to go back on board the boat to sail over to the next reef called Mackay. There we saw even more fish plus a white tip reef shark that was sitting on the bottom of the sea bed (luckily they are too small to harm a human!) we also saw three sting ray's and a turtle which we followed as it swam until it got too fast for us. The blue starfish were bonza (my new Aus term) and there were giant purple clam shells that kept opening
and closing when you got near to them, it was a great day - one of our best in Aus so far. During the day we had got chatting to a couple from Belgium who were staying next to us on the campsite and we spent the rest of the evening with them. We went for a night safari walk in the forest with just our torches and each other for protection. Fortunately or rather unfortunately we saw nothing other than a moth and a possum but it was a good laugh and then we sat up for the evening drinking rum and coke around the camp fire. Waking up a little cloudy eyed the next morning we got our swimming stuff on and headed for Emmagen Creek one of the nearby water holes. We went for a dip but the water was a little too refreshing for myself and Marianne so we watched Steve and Matias try to play volleyball in the water. In the afternoon we went to Noah beach where we played volleyball altogether but unfortunately we lost 2 games to 1, never mind it's the taking part that counts! The beach was deserted, we had the
whole place to ourselves which was awesome. In the evening Steve and Mathias turned their hand to a spot of sea fishing. Alas, after letting a mud crab slip through the net (no pun intended) and letting a fattie escape they hauled in a tiddler...nevermind boys!
Heading down the coast again we stopped at Paluma National Park for a couple of nights. We drove up into the hills to take a look at a waterfall and some beautiful creeks in the forest. We were going to camp at one of the conservation campsites as they are cheap but once I had found 2 daddy huntsman spiders in the toilet we changed our plans!!
Yesterday we visited Magnetic Island, we did quite a lot of walking but we found what we were looking for...koalas!! We saw 6 koalas in the wild yesterday they were so cute and very good at hiding as we were standing right underneath them in the tree and didn't even see them until another tourist helped us out. Now we are heading a further 300km south to Airlie beach where we hope to go camping on one of the Whitsunday Islands.
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edward dad
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cairns
pauline and steve it looks amazing you both look well. the koala bears are adorable but we gather that they can be unpredictable .we are convinced that steve should be on tv or travel writing he is in his comfort zone. take care with all those dodgy insects out there.we are looking forward to your home coming now we miss you. love to you both mum dad and brothers.